KANSAS CITY -- Rachel Garcia may be best known for her pitching. The 2019 Women's College World Series champion, two-time NFCA National Player of the Year and No. 4 overall pick in the inaugural AUSL Draft, has put up remarkable numbers on the mound, but she's always been able to swing it.
Garcia, who hammered 43 home runs during her collegiate career at UCLA, proved that on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium. Playing alongside two former Major Leaguers -- Devon Travis and Kevin Pillar, whose big league career ended just a few months ago -- Garcia led the way with a series of majestic blasts into the Kauffman Stadium outfield. Balls dropped into the fountain, liners peppered the scoreboard.
"Obviously, Lisa Fernandez is a big one," Garcia said about her favorite two-way softball star to watch growing up. "And then obviously Shohei [Ohtani] has always been my favorite baseball player."
Garcia put up the two best scores on the evening, combining for 51 points on 27 home runs en route the HRDX: Kansas City MVP Award and a trip for her team to the Salt Lake City finals next week. Her performance helped put away the Royals Outfield team featuring Lorenzo Cain and Ben Zobrist in the semifinal before defeating the Mets, 67-63, in the final. The Blue Jays needed all of that power as the Mets' Daniel Murphy and Tiare Jennings combined to score 27 points to take a sizable early lead.
But with Garcia at the plate, no lead was safe.
"It feels awesome," Garcia said after the game. "This being my first [HRDX tournament], and it being an MLB stadium, I mean, let's freaking go!"
While Garcia's offensive performance helped pace the Blue Jays, it was Devon Travis who walked off the contest for Toronto. Travis, who hit a home run in his big league debut, stepped to the dish with his team trailing by 12 points. He quickly got into a groove and called for his hot streak -- five pitches worth double points -- early in his round. He hit them so quickly into the Royals outfield that he continued lashing home runs long after the game was actually over.
"To be completely honest, I had no idea what was going on," Travis said. "I just was swinging and praying. I try to never get caught watching the scoreboard when I played, so I'm happy it worked out."
It was also a career-first for Travis, too:
"I just knew that I needed to do my best to pull my weight with this team," Travis said. "Rachel put on a show tonight. Kevin got us going great early, and I think it was the first walk-off of my life."
While the home runs may be the literal name of the game, what separates Home Run Derby X from a normal derby is that defense matters. The Blue Jays proved that with a series of sliding catches and athletic sprints across the outfield, not willing to leave any point on the grass.
"It's a unique part of the game where you get rewarded for playing good defense," Pillar said. "The nice thing is, you see the scoreboard and you're reminded that if you just put a little bit of effort on defense, you go try to make some plays, you get points. I didn't have my best last round, but I felt like I was able to make [it up on defense.] It's kind of the game that I always wish I got a chance to play, because I was known for playing good defense. If I could have put runs on the board for taking hits away, I probably would have played a little longer."
Now, the group will look to Salt Lake City with a chance to win $200,000 and become the first Home Run Derby X champions under the new format.
"We've got to talk to our wives, because they have babies at home," Pillar joked. "They're supposed to be happy for us when we call and say we won this thing, but they're probably going to be like, 'You're leaving again?!' So, we're actually scared to call home."
The Blue Jays victory also meant there would be no fans celebrating in Kansas City on Saturday, despite the postgame fireworks. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2015 World Series-winning Royals, two Royals teams -- an infield team featuring Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas alongside AUSL star Amanda Lorenz, and the Royals outfield featuring Cain, Zobrist, and HRDX OG Ashton Lansdell -- were selected for the event. (Alex Gordon and Jeremy Guthrie were also both on hand as "team coaches.") Neither one was able to advance past the semifinals.
There's one thing they'll always have, though that their competition doesn't, though: the World Series trophy.
"The Blue Jays got us," Zobrist said. "They were great. Teammates were awesome. But you know what? Let's remember 10 years ago, we got them back that day!"
Here's how the first two semifinals went down:
Semifinal 1: Blue Jays 54 - Royals Outfield 45
The Royals may have lost their first-round battle, but Cain was just happy to experience the thrill of playing in front of the KC faithful again.
"I'm telling you, it felt like I was walking out for Opening Day the way they cheered us on. The K.C. crowd, they always show up in a good way," Cain said.
There was even a fan in the outfield with an oversized cardboard cutout of Cain's head, which the outfielder spotted.
"I was able to snag it from and I signed it for them, but then they just started throwing jerseys and everything," Cain said. "'All right, that's enough,' but that's Kansas City for you, man. I always like to show love back to them, because they show us something."
Semifinal 2: Mets 53 - Royals 52
The Mets held a large lead early, but the Royals managed to take a small lead going into the final round thanks to solid showings from Moustakas and Lorenz, who tagged in for the end of his at-bat.
"From the day that we knew that we were doing this, we called Amanda our captain because she's done this before, and obviously she's a way better hitter than both me and [Hosmer]," Moustakas said. "So, we were relying on her to show us the way, and we wanted her to come in and finish it out."
Unfortunately for the Royals, Murphy -- batting sans batting gloves -- came up to bat and quickly scored the four points which sent the Mets to the final.